Monday, 26 November 2012

Chai with Vanessa from Nifty Thrifty Things

My guest poster for today is Vanessa from Nifty Thrifty Things. You should definitely check out her blog. Vanessa is a graphic designer, and that absolutely shows in her elegant blog design and her eye for all things beautiful. She regularly posts recipes, craft tutorials, and floral inspiration and takes gorgeous photos to boot, and all of this with a focus on being frugal.

Vanessa was kind enough to share one of her recipes. This one is for a chai tea concentrate, which will be wonderful to use during the colder days here in the Northern Hemisphere. Chai is one of my favourite drinks in winter, and after trying Vanessa's recipe I can vouch for it's yumminess. It tasted like I imagine a spice market in India would smell.

But I'll let her tell you about it herself...

***

When
my mom and I meet up for our (almost) weekly crafting dates, we usually start
off the day with a nice and warm cup of chai with steamed milk. It helps us get
in the mood for crafting, and during winter, warm up from the cold outside.

While
the store brand mix is already pretty delicious, it can get a little pricey and
we decided to make our own chai tea mix.

Best
decision ever! The homemade chai tea is DELICIOUS!

{chai concentrate}

PREP: 5 mins

COOK: 60 mins

READY IN: 1 hr
5 mins

a delicious, spice infused tea! Yum!

INGREDIENTS

·4 1/2
cups water

·10
pods cardamom

·1/2
— 1 tsp. ground pepper

·1/2
tsp. ground nutmeg

·3
sticks cinnamon

·5
pods star anise

·10
seeds pimento

·1 vanilla
bean

·1 stalk
lemongrass

·4 in. ginger

·2
tbsp. brown sugar or honey

·10
bags black tea

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring
the water to a boil.

Add
the spices and tea bags and boil at a low temperature for about 1 hour.

Remove
the pan from the heat and strain the concentrate through a sieve.

Add
the brown sugar or honey and stir to combine.

Allow
the mixture to cool before filling it in little bottles or jars.

Mix
1 part of the concentrate with 1 part of milk.

NOTES: Personally I prefer my chai latte with steamed low-fat
milk. But you can use regular milk, almond milk, soy milk. Serve your chai
hot or on ice. Also, play around with the ingredients to get it perfect for
your liking. Stronger, weaker, more spicy.